Nintendo Switch Dev Kits Will Be Cheaper Than Expected

While Nintendo’s first party titles may be the driving force behind their console sales, third party support never hurts and it appears that Nintendo is taking steps to shore up their third party support especially among indie developers. The Japanese gaming giant has revealed the price of the Switch’s development kit and it is surprisingly affordable.

At the Game Creators Conference, held in Osaka, Japan, Nintendo revealed that the Switch development kits will cost 50,000 Yen or $450. For the sake of comparison, the retail version of the Switch will cost $300 so the development kits are only $150 more than the retail version.

The Xbox One and Playstation 4 development kits are, by comparison, a lot more expensive. For example, the PlayStation 4 development kit costs $2,500 and the Wii U dev kit cost nearly twice that price. Of course, even those prices are bargains in comparison to the original PS3’s dev kit which costs $20,000.

Five thousand might not be much for a studio like EA or Bethesda, but it could represent an insurmountable cost for indie developers. Traditionally speaking, indie games have fared best on the PC. There are several reasons for this such as a larger user base and a largely unified storefront in the form of Steam. However, a big reason is the ease of development. With platforms like RPG Maker and Unity, it is relatively cheap and easy to develop a game for the PC whereas consoles can be expensive.

In recent years, all three major console manufacturers have pushed to increase their catalog of indie games. The Switch’s launch lineup contains several popular indie titles including Shovel Knight and the Binding of Issac. Based on these initial titles, it appears that Nintendo’s affordably priced dev kits have paid off.

The Switch will launch on March 3rd and will cost $300.

Eric is an avid tech junkie, gamer, and comic fan. When he's not working on his PC, you'll find him at your local comic book shop.